Civil Society Shows Its Moral Strength

Civil Society Shows Its Moral Strength

by

Adri Nieuwhof

At a time when Western
governments refrain from using their power to stop Israel's ongoing
violations of international law, many civil society organizations
silently watch the moral corrosion of their governments. At the "Israel
Review Conference" in Geneva this month and the Russell Tribunal slated
for early 2010, however, civil society will use its power and call
Israel to account.

The Israel Review Conference is organized in response to the efforts to
leave out the case of the systematic violation of the rights of the
Palestinian people from the United Nations Durban Review Conference in
Geneva from 20-24 April. The World Conference Against Racism adopted a
Program of Action to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia
and related intolerance in Durban, South Africa in 2001. The progress
made will be reviewed at the UN Durban Review Conference. Israel has
tried to avoid a review of its policies and practices by staying away
from Durban II, and it successfully influenced its allies to do the
same.

In October 2008 the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
National Committee (BNC), representing more than 170 Palestinian civil
society organizations, published a solid position paper for Durban II.
It gives many examples of Israel's systematic and institutional
discrimination against the Palestinian people. This includes the
continued prevention of the return of the Palestinian refugees, the
ongoing appropriation of Palestinian land in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories and in Israel, the adoption of new discriminatory laws to
limit the fundamental human and civil rights of Palestinians, the siege
of the Gaza Strip, the ongoing segregation and house demolitions of
property owned by Palestinians in Israel, and the denial of due process
and effective remedies for Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

It is obvious Palestinians have not enjoyed much improvement towards
equal rights since Durban I. However, the Durban Review Conference will
not examine this issue. To ensure that Israel's treatment of the
Palestinian people will be assessed, the Israel Review Conference is
organized by a civil society coalition in Geneva on 18-19 April. The
partners collaborating on the conference are the Palestinian BNC, the
Civil Society Forum for the Durban Review Conference, the European
Coordinating Committee on Palestine, the International Jewish
Anti-Zionist Network and the International Coordinating Network on
Palestine. Internationally renowned experts and actors for social and
political justice will examine how the UN anti-racism instruments apply
to Israel's policies and practices towards the Palestinian people, and
develop practical recommendations on how to hold Israel accountable to
international law and protect the rights of the Palestinian people.

The exclusion of a review of Israel at Durban II and the formation of
the Israel Review Conference follows Israel's deadly assault on Gaza
earlier this year, and questions of what international mechanisms exist
to hold Israel accountable.

United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian
territories, Richard Falk stated that Israel's offensive in the densely
populated Gaza appeared to constitute a war crime of the "greatest
magnitude." Falk also mentioned that Israel's blockade of the Gaza
Strip violated the Geneva Conventions. He further suggested that the UN
Security Council set up an ad hoc
criminal tribunal to establish accountability for war crimes in Gaza.
The reluctance of the Security Council to call for an immediate
ceasefire to end the bombing and killing in Gaza does not give much
hope that meaningful action will be taken at the UN level.

The option to hold Israel to account at the International Criminal
Court (ICC) is uncertain. Israel does not recognize the authority of
the ICC, because it wants to deal with war crimes in its own way. What
this entails becomes clear by how it dealt with serious allegations
from Israeli soldiers that included the commission of war crimes and
grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions in the Gaza Strip. After an
inquiry of 11 days, military Advocate-General Avichai Mandelblit closed
the case. However, the Palestinian Authority expressed its recognition
of the ICC's authority in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in January,
with the intention to give the ICC jurisdiction to launch an
investigation in Gaza. ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo
announced in early February that he will start a preliminary
investigation that would include whether the ICC has the authority to
proceed further. There are serious doubts that the ICC will bring the
abettors of war crimes in Gaza to The Hague.

In this environment of lack of accountability for Israel at the level
of international organizations, citizens took the initiative for the
Russell Tribunal on Palestine in response to Israel's impunity vis-a-vis
its violations of international law. The tribunal aims to reaffirm the
primacy of international law as the basis for solving the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and hopes to raise awareness of the
responsibility of the international community in the continuing denial
of the rights of the Palestinian people. Experts and witnesses
committees will establish the facts and build the legal arguments that
will be presented to the Russell Tribunal in several world capitals in
early 2010. A jury of well-known personalities respected for their high
moral standing will consider the reports and hear witness testimony.
The jury will announce its conclusions which certainly will attract
widespread international public and political support.

The first Russell Tribunal or International War Crimes Tribunal
investigated and evaluated American foreign policy and military
intervention in Vietnam after the defeat of French forces in 1954. At
the establishment of the Russell Tribunal, Bertrand Russell quoted the
Chief Prosecutor of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, Robert H. Jackson,
stating that "If certain acts and violations of treaties are crimes,
they are crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany
does them. We are not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct
against others which we would not be willing to have invoked against
us." Civil society initiatives towards freedom, justice and equality
for the Palestinian people confirm that the same counts for Israel.

Further

Academics are increasingly, ingeniously fighting back against an Orwellian "Professor Watchlist" aimed at exposing "radical" teachers. The list has inspired online trolls to name their own suspects - Albus Dumbledore, Dr. Pepper, Mr. Spock - and a Watchlist Redux to honor not trash targets from Jesus to teachers daring to "think critically about power." Now 100 Notre Dame professors have asked to join the list in solidarity, proclaiming, "We wish to be counted among those you are watching."